Cafe Buzz
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Welcome to the Cafe Buzz! We started the "Buzz" section here at the Celtic Café as a means of sharing some of the news and information posted to our associated mail lists, which are devoted mostly (but not exclusively) to Irish dance and Celtic music. For more detailed information, and to join in the discussion about "anything Celtic," please sign up for our main list, large and very international: Celtic Cafe Yahoo Group Got any "newsy tidbits"? E-mail us via the Contact Form. |
Riverdance producers Moya Doherty and John McColgan have teamed up with
Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schönberg,
one of the most successful teams of author/composers in musical theatre,
to create The Pirate Queen, based on Morgan Llewellyn's novel Grania-She King of the Irish Seas.
Grace O'Malley, often called Grania of Ireland, was the legendary 16th-century pirate-chieftain also known as Granuaile.
The spectacular new musical from the authors of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon will begin previews on Broadway beginning February 23rd, 2007, opening March 22nd, 2007 at the Hilton Theatre (214 West 43rd Street, NYC) on Broadway, following a World Premiere engagement in Chicago from October 3rd through November 26th, 2006.
Click on the image for the press release to learn more about this very exciting new production!
Irish Dancers wanted. Must be 16 years and over.
Open level standard.
Showcase in a London Venue July 7th prior to West End opening.
Rehearsals will take place in London from June 26th 30th 5-10pm and July3rd-6th 10am-6pm
Please send full-length photo and videos/dvds to:
Vianney Productions Ltd
54 Eton Wick Rd
Windsor
Berkshire
SL4 6JL
Please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you want videos (PAL format) returned.
Closing date 14th June 2006
The mission of the Celtic Cafe is to promote Celtic culture, and we love steering folks to other websites and mailing lists with a similar focus. One such Cultural Arts eZine is Rambles, run by Celtic Cafe community member Tom Knapp, and his staff of hundreds of reviewers -- including Paddy O'Furniture!
Although diverse in its offerings, Rambles.net has a decidedly Celtic slant in its choice of featured materials -- particularly in the massive section devoted solely to Celtic music reviews. Elsewhere on the site are reviews of books, movies and performances, as well as additional music offerings filed under jazz, bluegrass, folk-rock and more. Check it out here.
Do you have a website, mailing list or forum with a Celtic focus? We'd be happy to highlight it here at the Cafe Buzz. Reach us via our new Contact Form, or post to our main Celtic Cafe mail list and spread the wealth -- of Celtic information!
Marc Gunn's Irish and Celtic Music Podcast Hits #26 on the Most-Popular Downloads List at iTunes! A free, bi-monthly downloadable radio show of independent Irish & Celtic music, the Podcast features Irish drinking songs, Scottish folk songs, bagpipes, music from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Wales, Nova Scotia, Galicia, Australia, and the U.S. The Podcasts are sponsored by Song Henge, a website offering the largest selection of totally free and legal downloads of Celtic music. The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast also has a page on Myspace.com where information about recent and upcoming podcasts can be found.
Marc, a long-time Celtic Cafe community member, offers a free Celtic MP3s Music Magazine newsletter, sending out eight free and legal Celtic music downloads each month, plus Celtic news and reviews. He's a wonderful resource for great information, including Music Marketing and Promotion -- musicians might want to check out his eZine at BardsCrier.com. Fans of fine felines will no doubt be delighted with Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers, his solo project, but he's also part of a musical comedy duo, the Brobdingnagian Bards, performing Celtic Folk music at Renaissance festivals nationwide. Marc is involved in a gazillion different things around his hometown of Austin, Texas, where he drives around with a bumper sticker attesting to the fact that "Real Men Wear Kilts"!
Check out his personal site at MarcGunn.com -- and the free MP3s, especially "Lord of the Pounce"!
Alert Down Under! Catch the terrific Australian band Claymore Saturday, April 29 at the 10th Koroit Irish Festival near Warnambool in Victoria, Australia. This area, having a strong connection with both the early Irish and Scottish settlers to Australia, is steeped in the Celtic tradition, art and music. With nearby towns like Killarney and Belfast, this link is hard to miss and the town of Port Fairy just minutes up the road is the home of Australia's Largest Folk Festival, attracting more than 25,000 visitors.
The Koroit Irish Festival began in 1997 and has since grown to a fun, energetic celebration of the town's traditional Irish heritage. Held on the last weekend in April or first weekend in May, it features a renowned Danny Boy competition, as well as food, fun and entertainment, including Irish music from local and national acts. The biggest day falls on the Saturday, when the town's main street is blocked to traffic for a street parade, stalls and entertainment.
Claymore have long been recognized as one of Australia's premier Celtic folk/rock bands, and have built up a huge local and now international reputation and fan base. This is one of the last festivals they will play in Australia before heading off to Europe on their latest international tour -- which will see them perform for the third time at the world's largest Celtic festival, Le Festival Interceltique de Lorient in Brittany, France. This year more than 500,000 people are expected to attend and for the first time ever at the festival, the featured country will be Australia!
For more information, check out Claymore's official website at: Claymore.org and be sure to listen to the music samples on their Discography pages!
How fortunate we are to have ready access to great Celtic music and DVDs of Irish dance shows that have emerged in the past decade, starting with Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. The music can't be beat, thanks to brilliant composers like Bill Whelan (Riverdance) and Ronan Hardiman (Lord of the Dance), but it's not so easy in some parts of the world to simply pick up a copy at a local record shop, order from an independent retailer, or click on an Amazon order. Thanks to an alert fan, Alexander in Rostov, Russia, we learn that Ronan Hardiman is the composer of the Riverdance music -- at least as far as this "bootleg" copy of "Ronan Hardiman, Riverdance II" is concerned!
Apparently there are tracks from both Lord of the Dance and Riverdance on this CD, and possibly also Feet of Flames. There seems to be a "tradition" among pirates to put their own logo on the artwork as kind of a joke, or mockery, and in this case it appears to be a Ukrainian group, "Invisible Halahup". See images of the artwork: 1, 2, 3, 4
Alexander goes on to write:
"The more exciting story is Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames DVDs (even in Moscow stores) -- the box looks like legal. But when you open it you find usual DVD-R with corresponding freehand note!"
One of Ireland's top singers, Red Hurley is a household name in Ireland, dating back to the era of Show Bands. He has represented Ireland handsomely in the Eurovision Song Contest, and has amassed quite a discography, the most recent being, ‘You’re Still You’ -- filled with gorgeous music.
Red also happens to be the brother of one of the Celtic Cafe's favorite people, Olive Hurley, whose Irish dance instructional videotapes and DVDs have been responsible for many happy feet in the Celtic Cafe community worldwide!
Click on the image for an exclusive Celtic Cafe interview with Red Hurley.
Launched just over a year ago, the super group out of Ireland known as "Celtic Woman" has captivated audiences everywhere. Their original performance at the Helix in Dublin was recorded for Public Television stations across the United States, and the airings and re-airings on PBS created a demand for concert tours, which have garnered standing ovations on three continents. Their success has been absolutely phenomenal, but not surprising, because of the sheer talent of these lovely ladies, Chloe, Deirdre, Lisa, Meav, Orla, and fiery fiddler Mairead, under the direction of David Downes, former Musical Director of Riverdance.
The Celtic Woman CD has been certified gold and the DVD has been certified platinum, and the performers' solo albums have climbed the charts. Listen to music samples at Amazon.
Learn more at the official
Celtic Woman website: celticwoman.com and try to catch the remainder of this second U.S. tour while you have a chance: celticwoman.us
Photo Credit:
Gary Gershoff
Cafe Buzz
